Poorly maintained vehicles are one of the leading causes of road traffic accidents in the UK. Indeed, a recent report from the AA found that up 1,700 deaths or serious injuries on British roads last year were directly attributable to subpar vehicle maintenance.
That figure was gleaned prior to the cost-of-living crisis, which is forcing businesses to cut their cloth even more severely this year. And while reducing or even scrapping the ongoing maintenance of fleet vehicles might seem like an easy way to save money, doing so could have serious safety implications for drivers and other road users.
That’s the stark warning from Trakm8, which is urging businesses not to cut corners when it comes to vehicle maintenance this winter.
While investing in new technology during a cost-of-living crisis might seem like a false economy, purchasing the right sort of software and solutions can help businesses make significant savings later down the line.
Perhaps the most important investment in telematics a business can make is one that provides a holistic overview of a vehicle’s health. An example of this is Trakm8’s Connectedcare solution, which delivers an all-in-one monitoring solution with a full range of metrics and information to allow remote access to vehicle health insights. These include live dashboard warnings, battery health overviews and fuel use updates. This system reduces downtime and management costs, providing fleet managers with the tools needed to optimise their fleet according to vehicle health.
Fleets operating efficiently, with proper management and investment are more likely to deliver a higher ROI. Route optimisation and planning can make a big difference to operations and fuel costs thereby increasing efficiency. Investing early and ahead of issues allows for cost saving and supports customer service at a time when client retention is key.
Trakm8’s Route Optimisation software enables fleet managers to utilise their vehicles as smartly as possible. November and December are historically the busiest months of the year for delivery fleets, so technology that helps vehicles work smarter (either by reducing the number of vehicles a business needs to have out on the road or reducing the fuel spend of individual vehicles) can pay dividends.
Nick Guise, Group Marketing Manager at Trakm8, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is obviously having a severe impact across the sector. Our hope though is that managers take proactive steps to optimise rather than delaying action.
“Trakm8 have a range of optimisation tools and telematics solutions that provide insight and feedback for users. This includes ways to reduce fuel costs through driver feedback and reducing idling as well as bigger picture savings like route optimisation and planning software.”
